The Salad Days

My morning, so far.

0640 - Wake up to the sound of a bump (JP getting out of bed) and little feet running across the hardwood floor.  JP climbs into our bed, crawls across Jude, puts his face right in my ear and says, "Daddy, can I have some milk?"

0650 - I get up, limp downstairs (running injury to my calf) and pour JP some milk.  Check my cell phone and confirm that a mediation I had set for today settled at 11 p.m last night when the other attorney and her client accepted our final offer.  Sweet!  My day just got a lot easier.

0700 - Take JP his milk, hit the shower.  Get out of the shower and start frying some bacon for his breakfast.  Get dressed.

0730 - JP comes down to pretend "Bongo Java" (a.k.a. the kitchen) to eat breakfast.  He pretends to be Johnny Bag of Doughnuts and I pretend to be Chad from Bongo Java (one of our favorite baristas at Bongo Java).  I put on the Avett Brothers "Gleam" on the iPod.  I take the old Kappa Sigma paddle from college down off the wall and pretend to play guitar.  JP laughs.  Jude walks in, looks at us, then shakes her head.

0800 - Time to brush teeth, we tell JP.  He and I negotiate and ultimately settle on me getting first turn with the toothbrush, while he gets second and third turn.  He asks me to leave the bathroom so he can go potty.  JP needs his privacy.  He's 3 1/2.

0815 - Time for JP and me to leave for school.  Jude dresses JP in his heavy coat.  I point out that it's going to be 60 degrees today.  Jude responds that it's 40 degrees right now.  I check my cell phone and tell her that it's actually 46 degrees now and will be 50 degrees by 9 a.m.  Jude ignores me.  Win some, lose some.

0820 - JP and I walk outside.  I went to sleep last night and it was December and now it's April.  Beautiful, beautiful day.  Bright blue sky, brilliant sunshine and almost 50 degrees.  Wow.  It feels good to be alive, as JP I walk hand in hand to my truck.

0830 - I get to the front of the drop-off line at Children's House and JP hops out of my truck with his school bag.  I shake my head in wonderment and remind myself how lucky we are that he has adjusted so well to school.

0835 - As I walk up on to the front deck at Bongo Java, I see Ms. Joyce and several other regulars sitting outside (in December!), enjoying the weather and their morning coffee.  We chat for a minute or two.

0840 - I walk inside Bongo Java for a "mood elevator" (iced coffee drink) and toast.  Because I'm a regular and Bongo Java is the center of my universe, Chenel doesn't charge me for my coffee.  We chat about her impending move to Paris.  She's another Bongo Java friend JP and I are really going to miss, but we're happy for her, because she's so happy.

0845 - As I'm about to sit down, Chad, the owner of Chago's Cantina (a Mexican restaurant a few doors down from Bongo Java) taps me on the shoulder, says hi, and invites JP, Jude and me to the restaurant Christmas party on Sunday.  It's JP's favorite restaurant and he loves Chad, so I smile, thinking how excited he'll be when I tell him about the party.

0850 - I sit down at a table by a window in the front of Bongo Java with a nice view of the front deck.  I relax, listening to some 1950's music on the sound system and watching people go in and out of the front door, bustling off to wherever they're going and whatever they're doing on an unseasonably warm day in mid-December in Nashville.  I listen to the routine, mundane by comforting sounds of a coffee shop - coffee being made, music playing, people talking quietly.  I look around and see people reading, taking notes, writing in notebooks.  I see Rick (another regular) reading the NY Times, likes he does every morning.  I'm overwhelmed by a feeling of contentment.

0925 - I finish my "mood elevator" and wish I could stop time.